028

"Do you want to hang out today?" Eve asked while picking up some of her things from her locker.

Jack on the other hand was already finished and closed his own. He then looked at her with a smirk and a slightly apologetic look. "I would like that, but today I got a few things to take care of. How about next time?"

She looked at him for a small moment then back into her locker. "Sure..." Her answer was short and she closed her locker and shouldered her school bag.

That didn't go unnoticed by Jack so after thinking for a moment he tried to get her to see that she was also important and that he didn't just try to flee or something like that. Come to think, it was already weird enough how he seemed to even notice these things. That definitely wasn't a thing he cared about in his past life.

"You already commented on me doing so many things at the same time, right?" He asked her now while placing a hand on his hip.

"Yes, I did?", she asked him back.

"Then I will give you the reason why I do them. It's basically to find a good source of income. The only thing that I really have a passion for is music. But without cash and the right equipment, it will be a tedious path." At least that was the truth for now. He did after all not completely dislike his other hobbies. And telling someone about his lottery win is a no-no. "So I gotta visit the bank today because something came up there."

"Wait, why are you telling me all this then?" Now Eve raised a brow with her question.

Jack only tilted his head slightly sideways. "Because you looked a little bit hurt when I declined the hangout?"

Eve was a little bit startled when she heard his words. She opened her mouth for a short moment and didn't know what to say. That this would happen again. She felt a little bit frustrated now for some reason.

"I'm not going to fall into depression for something like that. You don't need to worry about such things." Then with a slight huff of a sigh, she answered him. Though there was a small smile on her lips now.

Jack just smiled back at her when he saw how confident she said those words. Guess he was wrong in his assumption.

"Also, I nearly forgot how nonchalant you are about certain things. I may have thought too much into them."

This on the other hand surprised Jack a little bit. She was probably hinting at the one moment when they met. So he couldn't hold back a soft chuckle. "Yeah, I guess I should be more direct with you."

Eve looked at him and seemed to be in thought for a moment. "Well, then see you tomorrow."

"Definitely." He answered quickly and waved her goodbye.

---

After having left school Jack went straight toward the local bank. That is after a quick stop at home to get a few documents.

Standing in front of the building he looked at its logo. A simplistic big SAGA in golden letters was firmly hanging above another plating that read Saga Financial.

'Hmm, I guess the first S in SAGA has a line vertically in it so that people would associate it with money.'

Entering the building it was like most banks, really. There were ATMs where you could deposit or withdraw cash and a few desks with clerks attending them.

Walking over to the desk for special deposits and inquiries he found a black-haired woman standing at the said desk.

The woman's long hair was completely tied in a traditional bun at the back of her head that was held together with a single long but brightly crimson-colored hair needle. Her black eyes were currently fixed on her computer so she hadn't noticed him yet.

'Hmm, she looks Korean.' Jack thought for a very short moment before starting to talk to her. "Hello."

"Welcome to Saga Financial. How can I help you?" That little greeting from him brought her attention to him.

"I would like to open a new bank account. But I would also need a little bit of privacy." Jack looked around and saw that the building was rather full.

"Very well, let me get my colleague to attend the desk for the moment and we can enter a booth to discuss matters." She was very professional and did things quickly which gave Jack a favorable impression.

After walking to the side where there was a hallway with a few special rooms for more private matters, Jack entered one with the woman and sat down with her.

The woman also had already introduced herself as Liu Wang while they walked here so now he had a name to put to a face.

He nodded at her and rummaged inside his bag at first and took out some documents. He then placed them in front of the woman on the table between them. "The name's Jackson Cole Frost. I would like you to make a signature on these first."

The woman looked at the document and was bewildered. "This is an NDA for staying silent about the contract? And it is indefinitely?"

"That is correct. I would like for you to never mention anything about this to anyone else. Otherwise, I would consider stopping right here."

She looked at him in detail for a while and frowned slightly. "What is the reason for the NDA?" While she seemed to be reluctant she still made a signature on the papers and then went ahead to scan and copy them for a folder where she puts all the information about her new client.

Jack could only smile. "Well, it's not like I will be able to hide it forever but for now I don't want too many people to know about it. So at some point, the NDA will be invalid anyway. Here are some other documents that should quickly explain everything."

He placed said things on the table as well. That was why Jack had to go home first. It was all to take care of getting the proper documents that are needed for the current transaction.

After all, the lottery association wanted to identify him and there were taxes waiting to be paid...hurray...

Liu looked at the papers and widened her eyes after understanding them. "How much are we talking about here that the bank needs to verify your identity?"

"Over 200 million..." Jack just stated the fact and Liu dropped her pen when hearing the amount.

"Wait! So you are the teenager from Oregon that won the Jackpot!?" She suddenly raised her voice a little.

"Hey, hey. Calm down. And how come that is already a rumor? I thought news only comes out a few days after the payout?"

Liu put a hand in front of her mouth because she realized her loud voice. She then started to talk less loudly. "Well, our bank has first-hand information regarding any winners in the lottery. It tends to become a direct competition between banks to reel in the winners to deposit it in their own vaults."

"I guess that makes sense..." Jack had to agree that banks were like vultures. At least they still paid good amounts of interest in this day and age. Just 10 years into the future and they would rip you apart for having that much money in the bank without spending any.

Economics were a funny thing. But still, wasn't he kinda screwed now? Oregon had a rule that didn't explicitly share the identity of the lottery winners. But who was to say that would hold true against damn money-greedy bastards? After all the bank alone had some information already.

This only meant he had to prepare himself for various letter assaults and email spam. Not to mention the calls he would probably get. At that moment Jack shuddered and thought about changing all of his digital contact addresses.

Just to be sure.

"Anyway, then let's do this quietly. I would like a complete payout. Even though a regular annual payout sounds great because I keep more of my winnings. I don't like waiting and too much juggling around with taxes later is annoying. Once paid they can't annoy me with further payments. By the way, speaking of taxes. Could you take care of the necessary steps like federal tax and so on for me? I think it would come down to at least a little bit over 100 million as payout right?"

"$118,634,214.89 to be exact." Liu already did the calculations and nodded while typing on the computer that was near her. "I will deposit the remaining second part of the federal tax on another account and the remaining second part of the state tax on a third account to make things simple. Please make sure to not withdraw anything from either one of them so that you don't end up having not enough to pay the second installments next year." Then taking his ID and other documents she scanned them and gave them a stamp that his identity was real.

"Wait, why are they not taking all the % in one go?"

"That's just how it works. Come to think of it. You really are lucky as well as unlucky to have won the lottery while living here in Oregon. We literally got the highest percentage in tax on winnings."

She was right about saying that since after all the calculations Jack paid a whopping 9.9% state tax. And it was % straight from his net payout after his winnings were cut short 39% for cashing it all out at once. So he basically forfeited massive amounts of money just as a gift to the land he lived in. What glorious patriotism.

And we can't forget the 37% tax the federal guys get. Those also come twice. Somehow he was happy about how Liu had solved his issue by making three separate accounts for him. The money would be taken the next year and the rest that he got in interest from it could be later transferred to his main account.

He didn't also bother much about paying extra for some idle accounts. Jack had enough money to burn for things like that and the payments would be deducted from his main account that only would get a monthly transferred amount from his loaded account.

So to make it simple, he now had 4 bank accounts. The first was his daily card he always carried around with him that would get $5000 charged up from his second account that would have all the millions lying around and collecting interest. Obviously, the interest would be subject to income tax but that was negligible.

Let's say he gets $650.000 in interest each year. He would still make a plus even after deducting his monthly transfer amount and income tax.

The other two accounts were basically just idle ones that would get a little bit of interest each but ultimately that was only the money he still "owed" the US and Oregon...

After that, he was literally free and would make money passively. It was kinda hilarious really. But since he planned to get money from other sources he could use those accounts later for other things like his youtube earnings or his royalties. Stuff like that.

With that all done and discussed the money with his first own installment would be transferred as soon as the money was wired to his SAGA bank account and he would officially be rich.